Manufacture of artificial building material.



his. M1 3 STATES f'atented eptember 29, Icon.

PATENT FFICE;

ADOLPHE SEIGLE, OF LYONS, FRANCE.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 740,188, dated September29, 1903.

Application filed January 3, 1903.- $erial1lo. 137,700. (No specimens ITo rtZZ whom it ntcty concern:

Be it known that I, ADOLPHE SEIGLE, a citizen of France, residing atLyons, Rhdne, France, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin the Manufacture of Artificial Building Materials, of which the folowing is a specification.

The invention relates to the manufacture of.

I artificial materials in which the chemical combination of silica withlime is obtained by the action of steam under pressure. In industrialpractice this process of manufacture necessitates great care to avoidthe numerous causes of non-success which may arise, particularly fromthe more or less good slakiug of the lime, from its more or less perfectdiffusion in the sandy mass, and, above all, from its reaction more orless immediate and more or less regular with the silica.

The process forming the object of the present invention has for itsresult to suppress or at least to considerably attenuate the variouscauses of non-success above indicated and to permit an easy andmethodicalman ufacture of bricks or monoliths having better appearanceand regularly more homogeneous and durable than the ordinarysilici-calcareous bricks or stones.

The work. is ordinarilyeffected in the followingmanner: Having,on theonehand,sand containing atleast lifty per cent. of silica and, on' theother, slaked lime in powder, the operation is com menced by carefullymixing this lime with a certain quantity of Well-pulverized calcinedcalamiu. The sand is then carefully mixed with the mixture of lime andcalamin in the proportion of about ninetypercent.of sand to ten percent. of liined calamin. The massis then moistened,so as to obtain asufficiently plastic paste. The molding of the paste thus made is theneffected in ordinary molds of suit-able forms. When the molds arefilled, the compression and removal from the molds are proceeded with byknown means. The molded products are then during a period of from eightto twelve hours submitted in close chambers or autoclaves to the actionof steam at a pressure of six to eight kilograms. On their removal thebricks or materials are ready for use as soon as they are cold. If thebricks or monoliths can only be submitted to lowpressure steam, theoperation must be continued fora much longer period than when a pressureof seven to eight kilograms is used.

By the combination of the successive operations above describedbeautiful monoliths are produced which are very compact and very durablein consequence of the formation in the body of the mass of a doublehydrosilicate of zinc and lime.

The above-mentioned hydrosilicate is a perfectly-defined and very stablesalt, not subject by either rain or river water orsea- Water to thedouble decompositions to which the hydrosilicates inclosing too greatproportions of magnesia or alumina are exposed. It is thereforenecessaryto avoid the employment of lime or calamin which contain magnesia oralumina in too large proportion, for, as is known by lime and cementchemical experts, the alumina and magnesia if they are in too largeproportions placed in presence of silica and lime form complexcombinations, giving place to consecutive reactions, which sooner orlater are very injurious to the solidity and consistence of theproducts. On the contrary, the adjunction of twenty to thirty per cent.of calcined calamin (or, in other words, of a mixture of naturalsilicate of zinc and oxid of zinc) to lime, as pure as possible,facilitates the regular formation of very solid and very stableproducts.

The calcined calamin can be replaced by an equivalent proportion of oxldof zinc, to which alkaline silicates are added, as required; but calaminis preferred, which is a natural product, the numerous sources of whichexisting throughout all regions of the world insure the supply at arelatively low price.

The calamin must not be calcined at too high a temperature, as otherwisethe silicate of zinc, having become more abundant and less easilytransformable under the action of steam, would no longer lend itself soWell to the reactions of hardening of the sandy mass by the formation ofa liydrosilicate of lime and zinc.

Without departing from the principle of the invention theabove-described order of the first operations can be varied. Thus inplace of slaking the lime before its mixture with the calcined calaminthe slaking can be effected after this mixture.

When improved moistening mixers are available, the silicious sand can bemixed with the powder of quick or caustic lime and with the calcinedcalamin, also in powder. Then the methodic and gradual moistening ofthismixture can be effected until its transformation into a plasticpaste. Finally the mode of procedure depends on the apparatus of theworks in which the process may be applied. Further, the methods ofoperation, as also the proportions above indicated for the sand, thecalamin, and the lime, are given solely as examples. They will varyaccording to the available means of manufacture and according to thenature of the sand and of the other chief materials and according to theconditions of utilization of the monoliths in manufacture.

What I claim as my invention, to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In the manufacture of artificial building materials in which silicaand lime are chemically combined by the action of steam unand desire derpressure, the process which consists in combining with the lime andsilica well pulverized calamin, substantially as herein set forth.

2. The manufacture of artificial building materials by the followingprocess, viz: calaminis calcined, it is then carefully mixed -with lime,sand is then mixed with the mixture of lime and calamin in theproportion of about ninety per cent. of sand to ten per cent. of limedcalamin, the mass is moistened to obtain a sufiiciently plastic paste,the paste is then molded, pressed and removed from the molds, and themolded products are submitted in close chambers to the action of steam Y

